PHOENIX - An Arizona man who contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis in Russia is living in legal limbo in a Phoenix jail cell.

Robert Daniels was ordered into involuntary isolation after he failed to obey a court order to wear a face mask in public, USA Today reports.

Even Joe Arpaio, the notoriously tough Maricopa County sheriff, expressed sympathy for Daniels. Arpaio plans to return Daniels' television, among items seized by jail employees in February when they decided he should be treated like other inmates.

"He's in No Man's Land," Arpaio said. "He's not charged with a crime, yet he's in a jail."

Daniels is treated differently from other inmates in many ways. He occupies a four-person cell on his own and cannot use the showers.

He said he realizes he should have worn his face mask and that his disease is responding to medical treatment at least to the point of becoming non-contagious.

He had returned to the United States from Moscow, where he has a wife and young son, to get better medical treatment.